Given that it could hardly be considered cold in Folrost, even late at night like it was, it was obvious that Karkum had intentionally cooled down the water he gave 6 to clean himself with.
It was probably his way of torturing 6 while still helping him, maintaining his pride.
He couldn't just help 6, else it would be obvious to everyone that he was just trying to maintain a cold exterior while being a softie on the inside.
But if Karkum made sure to make the help he provides unpleasant, it was a win/win...for him of course.
He got to give people the help they might need, while also dissuading them from putting themselves in a position of needing his help again, all while enjoying the process.
It was the perfect solution to annoy 6.
Inside of his house, Cypius quickly grew tired of 6's audible noises of discomfort. He was tempted to use his Alkore to warm the water up, but decided against it lest Karkum find a reason to annoy him as well.
Before long 6 finished his task of cleaning himself off, quickly retreating into the house with his newly donned uncomfortable village clothing.
He felt like he was roleplaying in a period piece for theatre, pretending to be a medieval peasant ruled by a corrupt lord and his knights.
Of course, in his imagination the period piece ended in him leading a rebellion and ransacking the nobles castles, ultimately culminating in he himself being instated as the lord of the lands he was once a peasant of. He would be a fair and just ruler, but he would also ensure that his people didn't have the same chance to create an uprising against him that he had.
The imaginary scenario continued running through his mind as he laid on the hard floor, covered by the thick fur coat as he shook off the cold of the water he bathed in, slowly allowing himself to fall asleep with his hand still gripping his knife.
"Hey Trivrium, how does me investigating a spiders nest help you with whatever war you said you're fighting? That should be a question worth answering, even for the great Trivrium, right?" 6 asked, the sun shining through the window as he remained laying on the floor.
Cypius woke him up at the first crack of light this morning, telling him that he would be out examining the village to ensure everything was going well, and Plono was already gone by that time.
[War efforts in all manners assist Trivrium. By getting stronger, you become a valuable fighter. By gaining information, you give Trivrium a possible blade to use against enemies. By providing resources, you strengthen Trivrium.]
"Right, right. But how much can a single adventurer, much less a beginner one, really help?" 6 said, not believing that Trivrium could really gain anything from the weakest adventurers she has.
[War is not over in a day. War can take years, decades. If an adventurer is so weak that they are still a low level adventurer in a decade, they likely will have died long before that point. Everyone has their time. War is not won by its generals, but by the soldiers in the battle.]
"Yeah, yeah, you sound like a philosopher." 6 said.
He rolled up to his feet, casting away the blanket on top of him as he stretched his body, sore from sleeping on the hard floor.
Today, 6 planned to talk to Cypius about the specifics of Folrost's failed attack on the nest.
He wanted to compare his experience, running into low numbers and then suddenly being besieged, to theirs.
If that was a tactic they commonly employed, he could plan against it and prepare. Alternatively, if finding such a low number of spiders in an area was an anomaly, then it was also worth investigating why exactly that area of the nest was so sparsely populated.
He also wanted to know more about their experiences in general.
The mission details that Trivrium gave him said that the first time it was discovered was by a female merchant on a yearly trip, but Folrost was Erver's sister land, and they knew of their disappearance immediately, so unless that merchant happened to by passing by Erver the day it was wiped out, Trivrium had incomplete info.
Considering the other various kinds of spiders he was chased by after his fight, and the large spider he fought after all the tiny ones, the idea was less far fetched.
Trivrium provided more detailed info on the previously discovered spiders when 6 accepted the mission, but the entire list consisted of only six spiders.
They were the slightly poisonous brown ones, the grey and black ones that had similar abilities, and three other kinds that he didn't run into during the fight.
If he had enough time to observe the spiders that chased 6 away from the nest, he may have seen the final three types of spiders Trivrium had information on, but it was almost impossible to distinguish the spiders in the crowd without getting closer than he was comfortable with.
Firstly, there was the small greenish spider, almost grass colored, about the size of a soda can. It sounded small compared to the other spiders he had dealt with, but this kind was surprisingly lethal.
Using the advantage of their color, they can blend with grass and greenery to remain hidden, before striking and injecting you with deadly amounts of venom.
These spiders had two fatal flaws however. One, none of the spiders ventured very far from the nest...which meant that once you entered the webbed areas of the nest, it became easy to spot these spiders, the green of their skin standing out too much against the whitened ground. They also couldn't move very fast, and relied on surprise attacks to land a bite.
This meant that while you had to be very careful approaching the nest, as they tended to hide in the greenery right on the edge of the webbed areas, once you entered the territory of the spiders they became much less of a problem.
Their second fatal flaw was great for groups, but didn't help 6 all that much.
For spiders that relied on camouflage and sneak attacks, they were on the larger side. There was a reason for this. The venom they had wasn't particularly deadly in of itself, but they stored a huge amount of it in their bodies, and upon successfully biting you, they drained every ounce of their venom in one single go.
This left them deflated and unable to move, making their bite much like the sting of a bee, one and done.
6 did caution himself a little extra about these spiders, however. If any spider could potential have any extra ability at random like the books he read warned him about, the odds of this particular type developing an ability to shoot their venom instead of needing to inject it seemed too high to not prepare for the eventuality.
The next spider was one 6 was excited to encounter.
A pale yellowish color covered the majority of this spider, except for it's legs, which blended into a stark black as they reached the ground. The yellow that coated the rest of the body was actually due to the slick hair that covered the entire spider.
It lacked the hardened carapace that most of the spiders at the nest had, instead being fleshy and soft. The hair that covered it's body seemed to be a protective measure to make up for its softness.
It was surprisingly resilient to long range attacks, shrugging off and deflecting both arrows and spears.
The hair that coated it wasn't tough enough to do this, so it was unknown how it accomplished the feat.
Little else had been discovered about the spider, as the only times it had been spotted had been far afar when people were trying to observe the nest to gain further information on the spiders around it, avoiding direct confrontation.
Finally, the last discovered spider was a type of jumping spider. The biggest difference this one had was not in color, or size, or any regular feature that varied between spiders.
Actually, this spider could be the size of, or have the color of, any of the other spiders discovered so far, though this couldn't be confirmed about the spiders 6 ran into yesterday.
Rather, it was distinguished by one monumental difference between it and its brethren.
The jumping spider had twelve legs, rather than the regular 8.
Aside from that, it basically matched the features of whatever spider it was resembling.
It was like an elite version of the regular spiders, one that could move significantly faster, jump shockingly high, and take advantage of the skills the similar spiders would already have.
In particular, this jumping variety of spiders was super lethal when combined with the poisonous varieties of spiders.
A twelve legged version of the green spiders would be a nightmare to deal with if 6 couldn't kill it quickly.
While still lost in his thoughts, Plono opened the door to the house to see 6 standing up with the blanket strewn across the floor. He was standing compeltely still, his eyes moving side to side as if he were reading despite looking at an entirely blank wall.
"Hey 6, you oaf. Its nearly midday and you're doing nothing. Can't you get up and make yourself useful?" Plono said, waking 6 from his stupor.
He shook his head as if he was still waking up, turning his head to look at Plono standing in the doorway with the bright beams of the sun shining in from behind her.
"Not really, unless there's something to fight." 6 said.
"Sure, go fight my dad. He's in one of the fields helping plant crops with some of the villagers." Plono said as she walked past the stationary 6 toward her room.
"And get my ass handed to me? I would like a fight I can actually win, no thanks."
"Yeah, well go fight Karkum again then. He's waiting outside the inn, been sitting in a chair all morning with a rolling pin in his hand, muttering to himself."
The hairs on the back of 6's neck stood on end as he thought about the goo he probably got on the door of the inn last night when he was knocking on it with his dirty hands.